U.S. patent number 6,827,588 [Application Number 10/459,503] was granted by the patent office on 2004-12-07 for low profile board-to-board connector assembly.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Emma Chiang, Eric Huang, Richard Peng.
United States Patent |
6,827,588 |
Huang , et al. |
December 7, 2004 |
Low profile board-to-board connector assembly
Abstract
A low profile board-to-board connector assembly includes a
receptacle and a detachable plug. The receptacle has a receptacle
housing with a plurality of arrayed first contacts mounted therein.
Each first contact has a base portion, a first solder tail portion
extending outwardly from one end of the base portion for connection
with a first PCB, a retention portion perpendicular to the base
portion, and a free first spring contact portion bent from the
other end of the base portion and extending parallel to the
retention portion. The plug has a plug housing with a plurality of
arrayed second contacts mounted therein. Each second contact has a
U-shaped portion with a pair of legs one of which is a free second
spring contact portion and the other of which is a locking portion,
and a second solder tail potion bent from an end of the locking
portion and extending outwardly for connection with a second PCB.
When the receptacle and the plug are assembled, the first spring
contact portion can engage at its free end with the free end of the
second contact portion thereby providing sufficient spring bias for
reliable electrical contact with each other.
Inventors: |
Huang; Eric (Tucheng,
TW), Peng; Richard (Tucheng, TW), Chiang;
Emma (Tucheng, TW) |
Assignee: |
Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co.,
Ltd. (Taipei, TW)
|
Family
ID: |
33476642 |
Appl.
No.: |
10/459,503 |
Filed: |
June 12, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
439/74 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01R
12/716 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01R
12/00 (20060101); H01R 012/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;439/74,660 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Paumen; Gary
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Rosenberg, Klein & Lee
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A low profile board-to-board connector assembly, comprising: a
receptacle having a receptacle housing with a plurality of arrayed
first contacts mounted therein, each first contact having a base
portion, a first solder tail portion extending outwardly from one
end of the base portion for connection with a first printed circuit
board, a retention portion perpendicular to the base portion and
extending from a common boundary of the base portion and the first
solder tail portion, and a first spring contact portion bent from
the other end of the base portion and extending parallel to the
retention portion; and a plug having a plug housing with a
plurality of arrayed second contacts mounted therein, each second
contact having a U-shaped portion with a pair of legs one of which
is defines a second spring contact portion and the other of which
defines a locking portion for securing the second contact in the
plug housing, and a second solder tail potion bent from an end of
the locking portion and extending outwardly for connection with a
second printed circuit board; wherein each of the first spring
contact portion is engaged with a corresponding second spring
contact portion when the receptacle and the plug are in assembled
condition.
2. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the receptacle housing has a flat base and side
walls projecting on opposite lateral sides of the base, and a
recess is defined between the side walls.
3. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 2, wherein the plug housing has a flat bottom and an
elongated tenon projecting from the bottom for mating engagement
into the recess of the receptacle housing.
4. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 3, wherein a bottom of each of the side walls forms a
plurality of evenly spaced first slots which extend through the
base for holding the first contacts respectively.
5. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 4, wherein each of the side walls further forms a plurality
pair of vertical mounting holes and vertical receiving holes
extending therethrough and communicating with corresponding first
slots, and the receiving holes 17 also communicate with the recess,
said retention portion is fitted in the mounting hole, said second
spring contact portion is received in the receiving hole and
projects into the recess.
6. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 3, wherein The tenon of the plug houing is formed in its
laterally opposite sides respectively with evenly spaced second
slots, the second slots extend through the tenon and the bottom to
receive the second contacts, an outer side of each second slot
communicates with outside to expose the second spring contact
portion to the exterior of the tenon.
7. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 6, wherein an inner side of the second slot forms an
interference groove.
8. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the receptacle housing defines a protrusion at
each end thereof, the plug housing has a ear extending outwardly
from each end thereof, the ear forms a notch for engaging with the
protrusion to interconnect the receptacle and the plug.
9. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 1, wherein a free end of the first spring contact portion is
inclined outwardly to define a contact end.
10. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the second spring contact portion forms a dent at
the lower end thereof for latching engagement with a free end of
the first spring contact portion.
11. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the retention portion of the first contact has
barbs on its opposite edges.
12. The low profile board-to-board connector assembly as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the locking portion of the second contact has tabs
on its opposite edges.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a low profile
board-to-board connector assembly, and more particularly to a
connector assembly having a receptacle and a plug which is capable
of assuring a reliable electrical contact therebetween.
2. The Related Art
The trend of the electronic industry is to constantly reduce the
size of electronic devices. Board-to-board connectors to
electrically connect parallel printed circuit boards in the
electronic devices are correspondingly required tinier and tinier.
Moreover, contacts of the connectors are arranged thicker and
thicker. These changes make high precision requirements of the
connectors, and it is desirable to assure the reliable electrical
contact between contacts of the receptacle and the plug.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,931,689, 5,842,875, 5,836,773, 5,830,018,
5,639,248, 5,626,500, 5,626,482, 5,599,192 and 5,161,985 disclose a
traditional board-to-board connector assembly composed of a
receptacle with a plurality of first contacts and a plug with a
plurality of second contacts. Each of the first contacts has a
S-shaped or U-shaped portion to provide a first spring contact end
at its free end. While, each of the second contacts is shaped to
have a straight contact end for pressed contact with the first
spring contact end. The normal force to achieve the pressed contact
only comes from a resilient deformation of the first spring contact
end. In order to maintain a reliable contact between the contacts,
it is necessary to make the S-shaped or U-shaped portion develop a
considerably large spring bias. In this consequence, however, it
becomes difficult to insert or remove the plug into and from the
receptacle. Otherwise, poor electrical contact would result.
Further, the straight contact end of the second contact is required
to be held to a plug housing over a long length so as to be firmly
fixed thereto, thereby an extra height is added to the plug and the
assembly, which hinders the assembly from achieving a low profile
design.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,545 discloses another traditional
board-to-board connector assembly. First and second contacts of the
assembly each have a U-shaped spring portion. The first and the
second U-shaped spring portions are oriented in opposite directions
in the assembled condition. However, such configuration cannot
permit to give a contact point at the interface between the free
ends of the spring contact ends. With this result, substantially
only one of the U-shaped portions is best utilized to give a spring
bias for providing a contact pressure between the first and the
second spring contacts. Therefore, adequate contact pressure for
reliable electrical connection between the first and the second
contacts still cannot be achieved. If the contact area of the first
and the second contacts is increased to solve above problem, it is
also a hindrance to minimize the assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,916 discloses another traditional
board-to-board connector assembly. Each of first contacts of the
assembly has a S-shaped portion composed of inverted and upright
U-shaped portions. Each of second contacts of the assembly has a
U-shaped portion. In the assembled condition, upright U-shaped
portion of the first contact and U-shaped portion of the second
contact are oriented in the same direction. With this structure,
however, stress tends to concentrate on a bottom of the upright
U-shaped portion where has a risk of occurring fatigue, and
reliable electrical contact within the assembly cannot be
assured.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a low profile
board-to-board connector assembly which is designed so as to
provide a sufficient contacting pressure for reliable electrical
contact within the assembly.
The low profile board-to-board connector assembly in accordance
with the present invention comprises a receptacle and a detachable
plug. The receptacle has a receptacle housing with a plurality of
arrayed first contacts mounted therein. Each first contact has a
base portion, a first solder tail portion extending outwardly from
one end of the base portion for connection with a first printed
circuit board (PCB), a retention portion perpendicular to the base
portion, and a free first spring contact portion bent from the
other end of the base portion and extending parallel to the
retention portion. The plug has a plug housing with a plurality of
arrayed second contacts mounted therein. Each second contact has a
U-shaped portion with a pair of legs one of which is a free second
spring contact portion and the other of which is a locking portion,
and a second solder tail potion bent from an end of the locking
portion and extending outwardly for connection with a second PCB.
When the receptacle and the plug are assembled, the first spring
contact portion can engage at its free end with the free end of the
second spring contact portion thereby providing sufficient spring
bias for reliable electrical contact with each other.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art
by reading the following description of embodiments thereof, with
reference to the attached drawing, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a receptacle utilized in a low
profile board-to-board connector assembly in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a plug utilized in the low profile
board-to-board connector assembly in accordance with the present
invention.
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the receptacle.
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the plug.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the receptacle.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the plug.
FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the low profile board-to-board
connector assembly in a connected condition.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a low profile board-to-board
connector assembly in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the
present invention is shown. The connector assembly is composed of a
receptacle 1 and a plug 3 which are respectively of flat
configurations for surface mounting on individual printed circuit
boards (PCBs) (not shown) to interconnect circuits on the
boards.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the receptacle 1 comprises a receptacle
housing 10 mounting a plurality of first contacts 20 in two
parallel arrays. The receptacle housing 10 is of a flat rectangular
configuration to have a flat base 11. Side walls 12 are projected
on opposite lateral sides of the base 11. The side walls 12 extend
along the length of the base 11 to define a recess 13 therebetween.
A pair of wedgy protrusions 14 extends upwardly from opposite ends
of the base 11. A bottom of each side wall 12 forms a plurality of
evenly spaced first slots 15 which extend through the base 11 for
holding the first contacts 20 respectively. Each side wall 12
further forms a plurality pair of vertical mounting holes 16 and
vertical receiving holes 17 extending therethrough and
communicating with corresponding first slots 15. The receiving
holes 17 also communicate with the recess 13. As the two arrays of
the first contacts 20 are symmetrically configurated, only one
array of the first contacts 20 is disassembled from the receptacle
1 in FIG. 3 for illustration. As each first contact 20 has the same
configuration, only one first contact 20 is illustrated for the
following detail description. With the same reason, only one array
of second contacts 40 is disassembled from the plug in FIG. 4 for
illustration.
The first contact 20 is stamped of sheet metal material. The first
contact 20 has a rigid base portion 21, a first solder tail portion
22 extending from one end of the base portion 21, a retention
portion 23 perpendicular to the base portion 21 and extending from
a common boundary of the base portion 21 and the first solder tail
portion 22, and a first spring contact portion 25 bent from the
other end of the base portion 21 and extending parallel to the
retention portion 23. The retention portion 23 is provided with a
pair of barbs 24 on opposite edges of the retention portion 23. A
free end of the first spring contact portion 25 is inclined
outwardly to define a contact end 26. Referring to FIGS. 1, 3 and
5, especially to FIG. 5, the first contact 20 is inserted into the
corresponding first slot 15 from a bottom of the base 11.
Simultaneously, the retention portion 23 comes into the mounting
hole 16, and the first spring contact portion 25 is received in the
receiving hole 17. The barbs 24 of the retention portion 23 are
pressed abutment against an inner wall of the mounting hole 16. The
first contact 20 is thus secured in the receptacle housing 10,
then, the first solder tail portion 22 horizontally extends from
the bottom of the receptacle housing 10 for soldering connection on
a printed circuit board (not shown) and the contact end 26 projects
into the recess 13, thereby allowing the contact end 26 to flex
toward the receiving hole 17.
With reference to FIGS. 2 and 4, the plug 3 comprises a plug
housing 30 mounting a plurality of second contacts 40 in two
parallel arrays. The plug housing 30 has a flat bottom 31 and an
elongated tenon 32 projecting from the bottom 31 for mating
engagement into the recess 13 of the receptacle housing 10. The
plug housing 30 further includes a pair of ears 33 extending
outwardly from opposite ends of the bottom 31. Each ear 33 forms a
notch 34 for engaging with corresponding protrusion 14 to
interconnect the receptacle 1 and the plug 3. The tenon 32 is
formed in its laterally opposite sides respectively with evenly
spaced second slots 35. The second slots 35 extend through the
tenon 32 and the bottom 31. An outer side of each second slot 35
communicates with outside, while an inner side of each second slot
35 defines a broader interference groove 36.
The second contact 40 is a stamped and formed metal strip which is
shaped to have a U-shaped portion 42 with a pair of legs one of
which is defines a second spring contact portion 44 and the other
of which defines a locking portion 43 for fixed engagement with the
tenon 32. A second solder tail portion 41 is bent from the lower
end of the locking portion 43 and extends horizontally over the
lower end of the second spring contact portion 44. The locking
portion 43 is provided with a pair of tabs 45 on opposite edges of
the locking portion 43. Together with reference to FIG. 6, the
second contact 40 is pressed in the corresponding second slot 35
from the bottom 31 with the locking portion 43 fitted in the
interference groove 36 Simultaneously. The tabs 45 of the locking
portion 43 are for pressed abutment against inner walls of the
interference groove 36. The second contact 40 is thus secured in
the plug housing 30, then, the second solder tail portion 41
horizontally extends from the bottom 31 for soldering connection on
a printed circuit board (not shown) and the second spring contact
portion 44 exposes to the exterior of the tenon 32, thereby
allowing the second spring contact portion 44 to flex toward the
second slot 35.
Further referring to FIGS. 5-7, when inserting the tenon 32 of the
plug 3 into the recess 13 of the receptacle 1 and the engaging the
protrusion 14 of the receptacle 1 with the notch 34 of the plug 3,
the first and the second spring contact portions 25 and 44 are both
caused to flex inwardly so as to correspondingly develop individual
spring biases which are cooperative to give a sufficient contact
pressure at a contact point between the first and the second spring
contact portions 25 and 44. Thus, the first and the second contacts
20 and 40 are kept electrically connected stably and reliably at
such sufficient contacting pressure. Moreover, the structure of the
first contact 20 can improve the distribution of the stress to
avoid fatigue. In addition, the second spring contact portion 44
can further form a dent (not shown) at the lower end thereof for
serving as a second contact end for catching the contact end 26 of
the first contact 20 to provide a latching engagement therebetween
to reinforce the interconnection of the receptacle 1 and the plug
3.
While the present invention has been described with reference to a
specific embodiment thereof, the description is illustrative and is
not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various
modifications to the present invention may be made to the preferred
embodiment by those skilled in the art without departing from the
true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended
claims.
* * * * *